10 worst moves of MLB offseason: Dodgers deals for Ryu, League make list

Noted Giants fan but otherwise relatively good guy Grant Brisbee over at Baseball Nation ranked his 10 worst moves of the offseason in Major League Baseball, and a pair of Dodgers transactions are represented.

It should be noted that Brisbee didn't appear to let his San Francisco fandom cloud his judgment here, and that he also named the Dodgers' signing of Zack Greinke as one of the ten best moves of the winter.

The Dodgers' signing of Hyun-jin Ryu was picked as the 10th worst move of the offseason by Brisbee, and it makes sense given the large sum outlayed by the club for a relative unknown, although several of the 937 scouts hired by the team at some point or another saw Ryu pitch. The Dodgers paid $25.7 million just for the rights to bid on Ryu, and guaranteed him $36 million over six years, which had Brisbee concerned:

I see the general promise in the arm. But for $60 million, I want a near-guarantee of instant gratification that's based on something more than the eyeball test. Ryu struck out 187 in 192 innings for Hanwa last year. Is that good? Does that translate well to the majors? What about the home-run rate of 0.5 per nine innings? Is that good? Did he get Karim Garcia out when they faced off? Should I dock him for being in a league in which Karim Garcia finished fourth in homers? I don't know!

The Dodgers giving $22.5 million over three years to Brandon League was named the seventh worst move of the offseason. Much like Cee Angi argued in October against re-signing League, Brisbee is against the deal, though he expanded on his reasoning:

Okay, maybe it's not the worst move in the world for the Dodgers, but I don't like reliever contracts, I'm not wild about League as a reliever at all, and I'm prejudiced against mouth-breathers.

Mouth breather?

Oh.